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                  <p class="p_Heading1"><span class="f_Heading1">Composite State</span></p>



  
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                <p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText" style="font-style: italic;">Composite States</span><span class="f_BodyText"> are composed </span><span class="f_BodyText" style="font-style: italic;">within</span><span class="f_BodyText"> the<a href="statediagram.htm"> State Machine diagram</a> by expanding a </span><span class="f_BodyText" style="font-style: italic;"><a href="state.htm">State</a></span><span class="f_BodyText"> element, adding </span><span class="f_BodyText" style="font-style: italic;"><a href="regions.htm">Regions</a></span><span class="f_BodyText"> if applicable, and dragging further State elements, related elements and connectors within its boundaries. The internal State elements are then referred to as </span><span class="f_BodyText" style="font-style: italic;">Sub-states</span><span class="f_BodyText">.</span></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">(You can also define a State element, as with many other types of element, as a <a href="compositeelements.htm">composite element</a>; this then has a hyperlink to a child diagram that can be another State Machine diagram or other type of diagram elsewhere in the model.)</span></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">Composite States can be orthogonal, if Regions are created. If a Composite State is orthogonal, its entry denotes that a single Sub-state is concurrently active in all Regions. The hierarchical nesting of Composite States, coupled with Region use, generates a situation of multiple States concurrently active; this situation is referred to as the </span><span class="f_BodyText" style="font-style: italic;">active State configuration.</span></p>
<p class="p_TextIndentedL2"><img src="state%20--%20history.png" width="624" height="568" border="0" alt="State -- History"></p>
<p class="p_SubHeadingL1"><span class="f_SubHeadingL1">OMG UML Specification</span></p>
<p class="p_BodyText"><span class="f_BodyText">The OMG UML specification (</span><span class="f_BodyText" style="font-style: italic;">UML Superstructure Specification, v2.1.1, p. 478</span><span class="f_BodyText">) states:</span></p>
<p class="p_OMGText"><span class="f_OMGText">A composite state either contains one region or is decomposed into two or more orthogonal regions. Each region has a set of mutually exclusive disjoint subvertices and a set of transitions. A given state may only be decomposed in one of these two ways.</span></p>
<p class="p_OMGText"><span class="f_OMGText">Any state enclosed within a region of a composite state is called a substate of that composite state. It is called a direct substate when it is not contained by any other state; otherwise it is referred to as an indirect substate.</span></p>
<p class="p_OMGText"><span class="f_OMGText">Each region of a composite state may have an initial pseudostate and a final state. A transition to the enclosing state represents a transition to the initial pseudostate in each region. A newly-created object takes its topmost default transitions, originating from the topmost initial pseudostates of each region.</span></p>
<p class="p_OMGText"><span class="f_OMGText">A transition to a final state represents the completion of activity in the enclosing region. Completion of activity in all orthogonal regions represents completion of activity by the enclosing state and triggers a completion event on the enclosing state. Completion of the topmost regions of an object corresponds to its termination.</span></p>




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